Using Flash to deliver lesson

Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Paul Reyes -
Number of replies: 19
Has anyone tried to deliver a lesson using Flash wherein it has the features of moodle's lesson module(tracking,segments etc)?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Paul Reyes

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Robert Riggins -
I would love to be able to do this also.  I would like to include a Flash movie that displays the screens and movements students must go through in order to perform skills on computers.
In reply to Paul Reyes

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Martin Dougiamas -
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Why not just use the Lesson module, and embed a small flash on every page?
In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Paul Reyes -
sorry for my ignorance but how could you be able to do that?there is no "insert uploaded file" or something like that in the lesson editor module...
In reply to Paul Reyes

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Michael Penney -
Actually, there issmile.

First, enable the mediaplugins filter in your filters (if you don't have one, upgrade to Moodle 1.3.x firster) wink. Now just make a link to a swf file using the link button, choose browse, upload your swf, choose it. Now when you save changes, Moodle will write the object/embed code to embed your swf.

Unfortunatly, the current version only does once size per file type, so all your swfs will be 320x240. If you look for my post in the filters forum, I uploaded a new filters.php file that will let you set multiple sizes for different swfs. Its fairly easy to hack new sizes in if you know a little php and how to write object/embed codes for media files.

As always, back up your old filters.php first.

In reply to Michael Penney

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Paul Reyes -
Thanks Michael!..i didnt knew it could be done in moodle until i enabled the filters plugin!...
In reply to Michael Penney

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Dennis Daniels -
Test of a tiny mpeg file 32K.
It doesn't play maybe because it is mpeg4. Take a look at it in xine. I'll have to test with mpeg 1/2 output. I use xvidcap for screen capture to mpeg, a very cool tool. Wow, the simplicity of the file attachment is very exciting! I really like my students to publish and share their slide shows... this will really help!

Ok, I uploaded a tiny swf generated by OO 1.1.1 ... nice!
Now to link internally...it works too!

Only one attachment at a time or is it set by size?

test

In reply to Michael Penney

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by jouse 2001 -

Hi everyone,

I tried the way Michael said and worked good, but  i've tried to insert the embed codes directly in the tab html but doesn't work, in this way you don't need to create a link to the clip. Curiously in the version 1.3 this embed code worked good. The code i used is this:

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="232" height="334">
  <param name="movie" value="../../imagenes/animaciones/m4-u1-acciones/m4-u1-acciones.swf">
  <param name="quality" value="high">
  <embed src="../../imagenes/animaciones/m4-u1-acciones/m4-u1-acciones.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="
http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="232" height="334"></embed>
</object>

Someone can help me?

       cheers

             José A.

   

In reply to jouse 2001

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Don Quixote -
Hi José,

In the tag

<param name="movie" value="../../imagenes/animaciones/m4-u1-acciones/m4-u1-acciones.swf">

you don't need to put a path. Only the file name:

<param name="movie" value="m4-u1-acciones.swf">

In contrast, in the
<embed> tag attribute src=

<embed src="../../imagenes/animaciones/m4-u1-acciones/m4-u1-acciones.swf"
 
you need to put the
"moodle conformant" reference via the php script. Something like

src="http://www.mydomain.com/file.php/NN/subDirs/
m4-u1-acciones.swf"

 
where subDirs is the relative path from the course root and NN is the course id. I think this is to ensure the access rights.

If you are not sure, what link you have to take for the src= attribute, look in the uploaded files of the course by right clicking and copying the link of the file there. This will be the right reference.

Andreas
In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by jouse 2001 -

Hi Andreas,

  thanks for you reply, but i couldn't resolve the problem with your advise. The code that i used before is the one that is generated by dreamweaver after insert a movie, of course i changed the <embed> tag attribute src= and I put the moodle conformant. Now, the only change I did after your advise is put just the file name instead of the path in the tag <param name="movie" value=>, but didn't work.

  As I said in the my last post, when I used the code generated by dreamweaver worked good in Moodle 1.3, the problem appear in Moodle 1.4, I don't know if the lesson module has been chaged in this released.

      Thank you Andrea

           José A.

In reply to jouse 2001

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Don Quixote -
I am not using Dreamweaver, although I don't think this is the problem.

Including flash files in a lesson works fine at my moodle 1.4 (Version 2004083100), but I didn't include one in a previous version. Are you using a 1.4 stable version?

How does the error exactly look like (error message)?

If you want, you can send me your flash file and I will try to include it at my site. (andreas.leiser@emathpool.net)

Andreas
In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by jouse 2001 -

yes, i'm using a 1.4 stable version. there is no error message, just the movie don't appear, curiosly in the edit mode i can see the movie, although smaller, but when i save the page the movie can't be seen.

I don't think the problem is the flash file, i send you anyway, i'm sure is the code and before you tell me you can use the movie flash in the 1.4 version without problem, i thought was a lesson module problem, there is other person in the spanish foro which has the same problem than me, he hadn't problem in the 1.3 version.

Could you send me the embed code that you use?

    thanks Andreas

          José A.

In reply to jouse 2001

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Don Quixote -
I took your code from above and it worked (for an author as well as for a student.

Here the exact code I have used:
<object width="232" height="334" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0"> <param name="movie" value="m4-u1-acciones.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed width="232" height="334" src="http://emathpool.net/file.php/45/animations/m1-situacion_practica-escena1_calidad80.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /> </object>

It's very strange... As you can see it in the edit mode, your flash player seems to be ok, too ... Sorry for the question: But you have entered the code in the html mode and not in the WYSIWYG mode, right? (Forgive me for this question wink)<br /><br /> <br /><br />I'll be away for a few hours. As others are having the same problem I suggest that you post a bug report in the bug tracker.
In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by jouse 2001 -

yes, it seem very strange. I've entered the code in the html mode smile. I'll continues trying.

   thanks

         José A.

In reply to jouse 2001

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Don Quixote -
José, it has nothing to do with Moodle. It's a browser issue (again!).

The proposed solution doesn't work with MSIE... only with Mozilla Browsers.

The problem is the deprecated <embed> tag. It is no more in the HTML standard 4.01 and therefore there has been this workaround as described on the Macromedia website (object tag for MSIE, embed tag for Mozilla).

MSIE seems to confuse this workaround (nesting embed tag in the object tag). I also noticed some problems when editing with MSIE.

Here's another workaround:
<embed src="http://www.yourdomain.com/file.php/NN/imagenes/animaciones/m4-u1-acciones/m4-u1-acciones.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="232" height="334"></embed>

I tested this with Mozilla Firefox 0.9.2, NS 7.1 and MSIE 6.0.2 and it worked. Maybe Opera, Safari, ...etc users can post if this works there, too.

I will investigate if there is a (prefered) solution with the object tag, too. This would be better since the object tag is HTML 4.01 standard.

Andreas
In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by jouse 2001 -

Hi Andreas,

   I didn't think the problem could be the browser. I'll try with Mozilla.

  thanks

         José A.

In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Jai S -

Hey,

I downloaded moodle 2 days ago. I'm not able to see any of the resources (txts,html) I uploaded except in edit modes. Gives me a page cannot be found error.

I can't view uploaded swfs either (they don't have an edit mode!).

I enter the file paths (eg;  Http://localhost/moodle/file.php/1/articles_on_LMS.txt) in a browser window, but gives me the same error.

I've uploaded an html file which embeds an swf file. I've uploaded the swf file (which is embedded in the html). I've made the changes you recommended in the html file, ie; giving the file path for the swf (multimedia filter is also on). The code doesn't seem to be the problem. I should atleast be able to view the independent text file.

Am I missing anything? (I'm using Moodle 1.4, MySQL server 4.1.7 essential Windows, Php 5.0.2, IE 6.0, Flash MX Pro 2004).

Thanks,

Jai Sonwalkar

In reply to Jai S

Re: Using Flash to deliver lesson

by Michael Penney -
Hi Jai, have you tried going to your admin/variables screen and setting the other option for slash arguments?